Method of making boots and shoes.



P. W. SHAW.

METHOD OF MAKING BOOTS AND SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 20. I914.

Patented J 11110 1, 1915.

rmyw. snaw, or LYNN, mnssaonvsa'r'rs, assmivoa r0 unrr'En SHOE macmnsar common, or PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A coEronA'rIoNoE NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF MAKING BOOTS AHDSHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent Patented June 1, 1915.

Application filed J'une 20, 1914. Serial No. 846,272.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that LPERQY W. SHAW, a citizen of the United States, residing at L nn, in the county of Essex and State of assachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Boots and Shoes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present'invention relates to the art of making boots and shoes and more particularly to a method of temporarily secur- 8 interfere with the needle of the welt sewing the lasted upper in position at the toe of the shoe.

In accordance withthe usual practice the toe portion of the upper isdrawn ti htly over the last and secured in the laste position by .a toe wire passing about the toe and held at its opposite ends by anchor tacks. The toe wireis usually allowed to remain upon the shoe until after the upper has been permanently secured 'to'the sole by the inseam stitches, and owing to the presence of the anchor tacks this method of manufacture is open to several disadvantages which not only interfere with the efiiciency of the shoe making operation, but also impair'the value of the finished product. In the first instance the anchor tack s,- which are driven deeply into the last at ap-.-

proximately the line of the inseam. often ing machine, frequently breakingit, and again the anchor tacks are often located in such a position that the welt must be sewed on around them. forming a break inthe regular contour of the inseam. which causes a defacement that is very diflicult to remove in the subsequent finishing operations upon the shoe. Aside, from the objections to the use of the anchor tacks, however, the toe wire itself has certainmaterial advantages as it holds the lasted upper tightly in place during the permanent sewing of the inseam and is not broken if the needle of the inseam sewing machine accidentally contacts with it during the sawing operation.

The object of the present invention is to.

removin the toe wire from the shoe or substituting another form of toe binder prior to theinseam sewing operation.

With this object in view a feature of the present invention comprises lasting in the toe portion of the upper and securing it in lasted position by a toe wire retained at its opposite ends by metallic fasteners, insorting a thread fastener across the toe wire adjacent each end, and finally removing the metallic fasteners. According to this method the toe wire is still retained during the permanent sewing of the inseam, but the objectionable anchor tacks or other metallic fastenings which would normally interfere with the sewing of the inseam are removed from the shoe prior to sewing on the welt.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the several steps in: the manufacture of a shoe; Figure 1 represents the toe of a lasted shoe secured in place by the usual toe wire and anchor tacks; Fig. 2 shows the.

same. shoe after the thread fasteners have been inserted; Fig. 3 shows the'shoeafter the anchor tacks have been removed and the ends ofthe toe wire bent in a reverse direction to lock it in place; Fig. '4 is a detail showing'upon an enlarged scale the character of the stitch for securing the ends of tion at the toe by a toe wire 1 secured at its opposite ends by anchor tacks 2' driven deeply into the last in approximately the ..line of the inseam. It is essential that these anchor tacks be capable of resisting the 'considerable strain exerted upon the toe wire by the upper, which tends to return to its original condition when the shoe is first, lasted. In order to permit the removal of the anchor tacks prior to the permanent sewing of the inseam and hold the toe wire in place,

thread fasteners 4 are inserted through the upper and insole lip of the shoe adjacent to the ends of the toe wire, these thread fasteners, as shown clearly in, Figs. 4 and 5, crossing the toe 'wire to bind it .firmly against the shoe. In addition to retaining the ends of the toe wire in place by threa .fastenings it issometimes desirable to pre- 11 stitch.

vent the toe wire slipping out ofplace at the extreme tip of the toe where the upper and between substance forms a comparatively thick bunch of material, as shown in Fig.2, and to this end another thread fastener 4: is inserted at the tip of the toe. The wire employed for binding in the toe is of comparatively soft metal which remains in any position into which it is bent, and in order to cause the thread fastenings to lock the toe wire securely in place the ends of the toe wire are bent in a reverse direction, as shown clearly in Fig. 3, forming hook-shaped ends which engage with the thread fasteners 4. In the simplest and most efficient form of the inv'ention which has yet been devised the thread fasteners are formed by first passing a loop 5 of thread through the upper and insole lip of the shoe, next imparting a relative vertical movement to the work and needle, passing a second loop 6 of thread through the work and through the first loop, releasing both loops and drawing upon the supply thread, indicated at 7, to pull the encircling loop 5 into the work and lock the It will be noted that in formin the stitch suflicient thread is drawn throng for the first loop 5 to enable the relative feeding movement of the needleand work to take place and that the second loop is formed of sufficient length to enable the first loop to be withdrawn into the work without disengaging the two loopsfrom one another.

The operations which are performed as above described and illustrated in the drawings are those which are preferred in practising the present invention. It is to be unthe claims the invention is not limited tov the precise method illustrated and described which includes all of the usual operations occurring at this stage in the manufacture of a shoe.

The invention having been described, what is claimed is:

1. A method of making boots and shoes which comprises lasting in the toe portion of the upper and securing it in lasted position by a toe wire retained at its opposite ends by metallic fasteners, insertin a thread fastener across the toe wire adjacent each end, and removing the metallic fasteners 2. A method of making boots and shoes which comprises lastingin the toe portion of the upper and securing it in lasted position by a toe Wire retained at its opposite ends by metallic fasteners, inserting a thread fastener across the toe wire adjacent each end, removing the metallic fasteners, and bending the ends of the toe wire back about the thread fasteners to lock the toe wire in place. p

3. A method of making boots and shoes which comprises lasting in the toe portion of the upper and securin it in lasted position by a toe wire retaine at its opposite ends by metallic fasteners, inserting thread fasteners across the toe wire adjacent each end of the toewire and at the tip of the toe, and removing the metallic fasteners.

. v PERCY W. SHAW. Witnesses:

Faun LA (311mm, BUn roN W. CARY. 

